Comparably CEO Jason Nazar (shown) responds to Rob Kelly’s inquiries regarding employer branding, recruitment marketing, Glassdoor alternatives, and more.
If you’re a leader in recruitment marketing or employer branding, you likely possess a great deal of enthusiasm regarding company review platforms like Glassdoor. A new alternative to Glassdoor that has seen rapid growth is Comparably.
I spent some time engaging with Comparably CEO Jason Nazar to explore this significant new facet of the employer branding domain. A special thanks to the wonderful Drew Kossoff (head of Rainmaker Ad Ventures) who introduced me to Jason back in 2010.
I posed numerous questions to Jason, and the outcome is this Q&A below. Enjoy!
Hey Jason, what is the most critical issue that Comparably addresses for employer branding leaders?
The most crucial aspect of our work is ensuring that employers’ reputations are portrayed fairly, accurately, and that one can genuinely perceive what it’s like to be employed at a firm.
The brief backstory of Comparably is that I dedicated 15 years prior to this in building businesses. I was genuinely passionate about cultivating exceptional company cultures. I was well-acquainted with all of the employee review platforms available, including Glassdoor and the others.
I am a strong advocate for increasing transparency in the workplace. Moreover, I feel that over the past few years, many of these employee review platforms have become somewhat chaotic. Often, the feedback was predominantly provided by former employees.
When the reputation of a company is mainly influenced by individuals who no longer work there, it will not accurately represent what that company is like today. That’s truly what we aimed to amend.
I hold a great deal of respect for everyone else in the sector. However, I believe what people appreciate about Comparably is that we are a platform that restores some control to employers. This shifts the balance back to demonstrate what it genuinely feels like to work at a company in the most equitable and accurate manner, ensuring that the hard work leaders and organizations put in aren’t unduly punished when individuals search for information about a firm on Google.
Talent Acquisition vs. Employer Branding vs. Recruitment Marketing. How does Comparably position itself?
Comparably serves as a resource for enhancing employer brand and recruitment marketing. I think there are many excellent platforms for discovering jobs and candidates like Indeed, ZipRecruiter, etc. I also believe a plethora of other options exists, like LinkedIn, to locate exceptional candidates.
We’re here to assist a company in developing their employer brand and reputation, providing them with enhanced tools for recruitment marketing. We have an abundance of top-tier digital candidates who have registered on Comparably (these are passive job seekers that cannot be found on job boards. Engineer, Product Marketing, Design, Sales, and Finance).
We can connect companies with these outstanding candidates and facilitate hires, but our primary focus is not on working with recruiters. Instead, we aim to collaborate with HR, chief marketing officers, and individuals in the employer branding sector, offering them a platform and product that truly delivers a fair representation that:
- Assists them in gaining substantial media attention
- Ensures they receive the most precise Google results
- Facilitates candidate conversion
Who do you regard as your leading competitors? Would it be company review platforms like Glassdoor?
Glassdoor stands as our primary competitor, and I believe they occupy a different realm now that they have been acquired by Recruit (the parent organization of Indeed).
I think they have, over recent years, concentrated on transforming into a job platform, as you can observe from their product.
Nonetheless, they are the most recognized platform where employees share their feedback on what it’s like to work at companies, which is the area we are involved in — so indeed, Glassdoor is our main competitor.
How does Comparably differ from Glassdoor?
I’ll highlight the aspects where I believe we excel. I am not here to belittle anyone else. I wouldn’t have established this venture if I didn’t have respect for what they and others have accomplished in the sector.
One unique feature of Comparably is that we enable companies to allow only their verified current team members to provide public feedback.
“My firmly held belief is if you want to grasp the company culture, you must hear from the individuals presently working there, for better or worse.”
For instance, the Google culture isn’t what those who left eight years ago [claim it is]… it’s the hundreds of thousands of employees who are there today.
It’s vital when aiming to comprehend a company culture that the most crucial voices that need to be heard first and foremost are from the current team. That’s something we do differently than I believe any other employee review platforms do.
What HR Tech category would an analyst like Gartner Group classify Comparably into?
I believe they would categorize us under reputation management services. Again, we are a platform designed for both employees and employers to best comprehend what it’s like to be employed at companies.
For instance, we offer things that our predecessors do not, such as:
- A Gender score — As evaluated by women in that company
- A Diversity score — As assessed by people of color in that company
- Very specific detailed breakdown of what is occurring at the departmental level
- Highly detailed analytics concerning how competitors and industries compare to one another
We then assist companies in gaining outstanding press regarding the areas in which they stand out through our Best Places to Work awards. Therefore, I think that the Gartner group would place us in the category of reputation management services.
Do former employees contribute to Comparably’s evaluation of a company?
Absolutely. By default, both previous and current employees can provide feedback, but we offer companies the option to receive public feedback exclusively from their ongoing team and then obtain private feedback from former employees.
We are not here to portray a company in a more favorable light than it truly is. Our aim is to provide the most fair and accurate representation.
My viewpoint for an extended period has simply been that if you want to understand the company culture, both from a candidate’s perspective and a current team member’s viewpoint, or how an employer strives to portray their brand to the world, then it’s the existing team that is vital to be heard from.
Reality is that on employee review platforms, all sorts of problematic situations arise:
- Competitors leave feedback
- Fraud occurs
- There’s excessive input from individuals who only worked at a company for a short duration and
felt as though they were wronged and subsequently leave a dreadful, terrible review.
Such circumstances place the job seeker in a position where they must navigate through all the evaluations. This is why you observe numerous one-star reviews alongside positive feedback. This phenomenon also occurs on other platforms such as Yelp and similar sites.
“The inquiry then turns to whether you were merely receiving responses from the most irate individuals paired with those prompted to contribute by management. This could genuinely inform you about what people akin to you feel about their workplace, leaders, colleagues, and their remuneration. How beneficial would that be? And this is the problem Comparably aims to address.”
Another significant area of focus for us is that we have emerged as one of the leading organizations presenting Best Place to Work accolades.
We conduct these quarterly and genuinely aspire to honor the areas where companies excel.
A key distinction between us and other employee review platforms is that we do not prioritize written evaluations. We possess millions of assessments on our site, but ultimately, those aren’t always the most equitable means to comprehend what is occurring within a company.
We prioritize acquiring structured data, which is a sophisticated way of stating that we encourage employees to complete a survey. If one of your employees wished to provide input about you, they would enter and respond to 20 queries that would require about a minute and a half.
This would yield a comprehensive and rich set of data across various domains of your organization. The advantage of this is that we can then juxtapose how you fare as an employer against analogous companies.
In a vacuum, nothing is inherently good or bad. We all hold value relative to the alternatives, and what matters to a job seeker, an existing employee, or an employer is how they compare against:
- Others within their industry
- Their rivals
- Their alternatives
- Other businesses of their scale
That’s the insight Comparably aims to illuminate.
The final major aspect is that we have an exceptionally remarkable SaaS product that:
- Provides an array of analytics
- Aids in content creation
- Offers competitive cultural data to indicate your standing with direct rivals
- Contains an impressive salary database
We have a variety of software and instruments to offer more content and resources for HR professionals to onboard and convert top candidates.
Our collaboration with companies has significantly enhanced their job postings across the web, making them tremendously more valuable, and clearly, this is an area that Ongig is well-versed in.
Ultimately, our focus remains on the employer branding and recruitment marketing landscape.
We aim to innovate and improve upon what has been done previously. Observing the experiences our customers are having (such as Salesforce, Intuit, ADP, HubSpot, First National Bank, and Cisco Foods), they are enjoying a positive experience. Our goal is to assist as many individuals as we can.
What’s the initial investment or cost to utilize Comparably as a service?
Comparably’s pricing is remarkably transparent. It varies between $15,000 and $50,000 annually, primarily depending on the size of the company.
We do not upsell various items. We provide an unlimited number of job postings. We do not restrict any product features.
One of our aims is to recognize that we are the newcomers in the field, and therefore we deliver exceptional customer support. I am involved in many of the accounts that come onboard and we strive to exceed expectations, whether through content creation, securing press for our partners, or assisting in developing a comprehensive strategy to attract and convert the highest quality candidates.
A lot of companies lack a robust pipeline funnel that can be activated. Indeed and ZipRecruiter can garner more candidates than one might wish to manage. The real question is about sourcing quality candidates, which is where we excel. Thus, our current focus is on delivering excellent value and service.
Is there a complimentary way for employers to utilize anything from Comparably for their employer branding strategy?
Definitely, there are 15,000 organizations that have claimed their Comparably profile and are leveraging our software. We have thousands of HR leaders who manage their Comparably page. For free, they can:
- Reply to reviews
- Add media
- Complete their profile
- Begin connecting with candidates
We assist in attracting candidates to employers, who can then direct them to their career pages and engage with them.
We present a very appealing offering, but I believe there’s considerably more we can accomplish when we collaborate with a company and support them. I would certainly encourage your audience to utilize Comparably for the fundamental tools.
You referenced deceitful practices on employer rating and review sites that damage companies’ reputations. Could you provide an example of the types of deception present on employer review platforms?
Indeed. I believe there are three categories of issues that arise on these platforms that complicate candidates’ understanding and disproportionately harm employers’ reputations.
At the most fundamental level, there is outright deceit. Certain companies deliberately seek to tarnish the reputation of their rivals. I have interacted with ten employers in the past three months who have encountered such situations on other platforms beyond Comparably.
I think the second level pertains to a lack of accountability and accurate verification.
For instance, if someone was part of your company three years ago in a sales or administrative role, and was dismissed due to performance issues, being a negative cultural fit, or exhibiting instability, and it was widely agreed upon within the company that this individual shouldn’t be there.
For that person to freely express whatever they wish about the organization, which is likely to be distorted and excessively negative, is, in my opinion, unhelpful.
The third aspect involves excessively positive feedback that is solicited as a counterbalance.
When employers feel: Oh, we have been so unjustly represented, and thus need to encourage individuals to provide overly favorable feedback, it becomes apparent. You can tell when someone has been urged, pressured, or coerced to offer a review they are reluctant to give.
All of these factors contribute to the complexity of discerning the genuine situation within an organization.
These are the issues we aim to address, and while we will not be flawless in every case, the objective is that if you could simply converse with each team member at a company to discern their true opinions on what is commendable and what requires improvement; it should be comprehensible and quantifiable in an accessible manner.
How advantageous would that be for the employer? How valuable would it be for the candidate? This is the product experience we aspire to develop.
How precise is Comparably and Glassdoor regarding salaries?
Generally speaking, I would say they are quite accurate. There’s
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an abundance of significance in the volume of information. I can’t address what others do, but in the case of Comparably, we compare all user-submitted information with data from firms and recruiters.
Each salary entry that arrives undergoes both an algorithmic evaluation and a review by a human editor who specializes in salary compensation. We refrain from posting any record on the site unless we are extremely confident about its accuracy.
In our instance, each salary entry is supplemented by:
- Company scale
- Amount of capital they have acquired
- Equity details that many others overlook
- Gender and ethnicity of the individual who submitted the record, naturally in an anonymous manner
Typically, we concentrate on salary entries for corporate positions and technology-related roles.
Part of what we take immense pride in is the fact that numerous organizations and individuals have stated, “this is among the most precise data we’ve ever encountered.” In our case, I believe we possess highly accurate salary information.
How does Comparably gather content? Last time we discussed enabling clients to embed tools for automating that content acquisition.
We aimed to create a unique experience both for understanding what it’s like to work at a company and for gathering that feedback. While other employee review platforms begin by requesting a written evaluation from someone, which tends to depict a company in very general terms, whether generally positive or negative.
At Comparably, we collect survey data. We encourage employees to answer, for instance, 20 questions regarding the company, which are multiple-choice, scale from 1-10, and yes or no, helping us comprehend various aspects of an organization:
-
- How employees assess their leadership
- Their views on their compensation
- How they regard their colleagues
- How they perceive the company’s future prospects
- Their opinions on perks and benefits
This survey provides us with a thoughtful, unbiased, and thorough understanding of what it’s like to be employed at a company overall. This has been one of the appealing aspects of our platform, as it facilitates easy feedback collection from your team.
The reality is that it can feel somewhat awkward to request a written review from someone. It feels a bit strange to ask, but everyone is accustomed to offering a bit of survey feedback for their company, which has been a common practice for quite some time.
Whether you’re invited by your employer, come to Comparably directly, or are asked by a colleague, that’s part of how we gather feedback that stands apart.
After that, we strive to provide a clear view of the company’s environment.
We highlight their strongest areas, assisting companies in gaining recognition through our Best Place to Work awards, which incur no cost or fees for participation, and there’s absolutely no pay-to-play involved. They must achieve adequate scores; so when they do, they can obtain significant national visibility, gain substantial national media attention, and distinguish themselves as a premier employer.
We aim to empower those employers to highlight their strengths and demonstrate to the world where they excel, where they shine, and where they are recognized as top employers, exceeding alternatives. They can utilize that in their job postings or recruitment marketing initiatives.
What is an innovative approach you are adopting for diversity that other employer review platforms are not?
For a firm’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, we provide them with a gender score and a diversity score. You’ll instantly see how that company is rated by the women on their team, how they are viewed by employees of color, and how managers, executives, and CEOs are rated by women and diverse employees.
What we aim to achieve is a greater transparency regarding the work environment and how they support various types of employees. Are they organizations valued by senior employees?
Do they foster positive feelings among their engineering and design teams? Are they recognized positively among their team members who are people of color or women?
This principle has been fundamental to our vision for Comparably from the beginning. Simply stating that this company has five stars isn’t sufficient. As a candidate, you want to know:
- What’s it like for someone like me?
- What’s the experience like on the marketing team?
- What’s the atmosphere in the location I’m considering joining?
- What’s it like for someone with a similar background as mine, whether it relates to gender, ethnicity, education, or skills?
When someone is considering joining a company, particularly a large one, knowing it’s just four or five stars overall isn’t necessarily the most beneficial information. It’s more important to understand the environment that I will be entering, the managers I will work under, and the experiences of peers with similar backgrounds.
That’s the approach we’ve taken with Comparably, distinguishing us from other platforms. We prioritize making this information prominent in our user experience.
If you navigate to any company profile on Comparably, one of the first aspects you will notice on each company page is their gender score and diversity score. It’s literally the inaugural element displayed on a company page. This is central to our identity as an organization.
Can you enumerate some of the Employer of Choice Awards that Comparably is distributing?
You can explore all our Comparably awards here. We present 20 awards annually. Additionally, we acknowledge companies with the most favorable outlook.
Our awards cover:
- Companies with the most promising outlook
- Companies rated best by their own employees regarding financial performance
- Companies recognized as best for women
- Companies that score highest for diversity
- Companies with the most favorable perks and benefits
- Companies known for excellent compensation
- Companies with the best management
- Companies offering exceptional professional development opportunities
- Companies with outstanding CEOs
- Companies with exemplary CEOs for diversity and women
We provide a broad spectrum. We can even highlight the top companies by department, along with those having the best engineering, sales, or design teams.
A unique aspect of our award system is that we possess data on numerous aspects of a company, allowing us to vividly showcase where they excel in these varying domains. Many employers have found value in Comparably, as previously they never had an opportunity to win Best Place to Work awards due to the challenges of competing with industry leaders like Google.
culture.
However, we’ve worked with firms that might not possess the finest overall corporate culture yet are notably competitive regarding compensation or perks and benefits. They could have exceptional leaders who have received commendable ratings from their staff, allowing us to showcase them as outstanding employers in those specific areas.
“Perhaps you’re not in an A-grade corporate culture overall, but instead a B or even a C culture, yet there exists a specific domain where you excel. Those are the aspects that warrant celebration. It’s thrilling to witness your team rally behind, celebrate, and promote on social platforms and engage their peer groups and friends.”
I receive numerous inquiries from Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing Leaders regarding how to establish a new Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Is Comparably useful for an EVP?
Absolutely, we engage in extensive content development for our clients. We conduct case studies on their CEO, wherein I interview their Chief People Officer or CEO, and we have astounding journalists on staff who previously worked for Fortune and Business Insider.
We possess a vast amount of data on businesses, which we incorporate to exhibit how firms rank against their competitors and their standing within their industries.
A part of our offering to enterprises is that we assist them in narrating that story. We can elevate the values they already recognize, while also serving as their partners and strategists, helping them pinpoint the unique and special elements they offer since we possess the quantitative data to substantiate it. Furthermore, we include their employees’ ratings and feedback in these narratives, which is a significant aspect of our support for companies.
Will Comparably eventually function as a job board?
That’s not our priority at this time. Our focus remains on being the premier platform to assist firms with their employer branding and recruitment marketing, providing the most equitable and precise portrayal of current conditions. Undoubtedly, we have a substantial pool of registered users.
They are expressing interest in job opportunities. I believe it would be a logical inference that at some point, we’ll delve deeper into that area.
A component of our offerings is matching candidates. We’ve sourced hundreds of thousands of candidates for various companies, but it’s crucial for us to remain dedicated to our current mission because there exist many excellent alternatives to facilitate a high volume of applications. We are here to assist companies in:
- Attracting superior candidates
- Enhancing recruitment marketing strategy — Which aids in bringing candidates through the door
- Refining their employer branding strategy — Which helps in attracting higher quality candidates
However, as of now and for the foreseeable future, we are not a job board; we provide solutions to enhance employer branding and recruitment marketing. That’s the domain we aim to concentrate on and genuinely make a difference. We aspire to aid individuals in HR with employer branding titles and Chief People Officers.
Should employer branding and recruitment marketing be housed within talent and HR, or within the marketing department, or perhaps a blend of both?
I believe what occurs today is that in smaller organizations, employer branding tends to become somewhat of a marketing function. There are no dedicated employer branding resources, causing them to either overlap with marketing or fall under the jurisdiction of talent.
Individuals working in recruitment who bear the responsibility of bringing potential candidates in are also encouraged to focus on branding initiatives. Certainly, at larger organizations, significant time, effort, and resources are expended.
My perspective is that there is no meaningful distinction between a company’s employer branding and its overall brand. They are one and the same. It seems that whether a company comprises 50 employees and is rapidly expanding or 50,000 employees that have been in existence for a century, they are beginning to recognize that their market reputation is imperative.
People conduct thousands of Google searches about companies daily. These aren’t solely candidates; they include their own employees, the press, stakeholders, and private and public investors. Being able to depict what they are like as a business, both regarding products and services, and how employees are regarded is an integrated representation.
If you observe the tech sector leading any movement, it is that a business must not solely focus on profits. It requires a comprehensive mission, one that serves its investors, employees, and the community.
I believe there exists a singular brand that companies are creating that encompasses all those activities as individuals become increasingly aware that this brand is crucial to their identity as organizations.
It is increasingly emerging from marketing, and I think it’s becoming not only a sub-function of recruitment within an organization but is also gaining the resources necessary to operate effectively, as if one were a Chief Marketing Officer charged with ensuring the brand and products are distinguished positively in the market. I believe that’s the shift we’ve been witnessing.
Is the acquisition of Glassdoor by Recruit/Indeed beneficial, detrimental, or neutral for Recruitment Marketing/Employer Branding Leaders?
I do believe that the acquisition revolved around Indeed as a job portal, which is the largest site in the world. If you have observed Glassdoor’s endeavors in recent years, they’ve positioned themselves as the second largest job board in the U.S.
Thus, I think their joint focus will be on becoming the premier job board in both the United States and globally. I commend them for that mission and their efforts. I believe that because of this, Glassdoor’s initial focus on being a platform for employer branding is clearly no longer present.
That’s why companies like us exist, as there is a market demand for solutions extending beyond mere employer branding and recruitment marketing.
What do you believe prevented Glassdoor from pursuing an IPO?
I think these situations are always complex. They had a significant number of shareholders through multiple funding rounds. I believe management and shareholders analyze the best strategic opportunities. I find Recruit to be an exceptional company, and the acquisition by Indeed turned out to be one of the most outstanding tech acquisitions of the past two decades.
They should receive credit for acquiring that company at what they did in the late 2000s and transforming it into what it has become today. I can understand why the Glassdoor team would be thrilled to join that journey.
Thus, I can’t speak to it as I was not part of the boardroom. I’m not the appropriate individual to assess why they chose that particular path as opposed to opting for an IPO. I can affirm it’s a multifaceted decision involving numerous factors, having experienced those discussions in boardrooms where companies faced similar dilemmas.
However, I also recognize that Recruit and Indeed are outstanding organizations. I’m not surprised they would want to be integrated into that team.
Thank you, Jason!
Why I interviewed Comparably CEO Jason
I interviewed Jason because many talent leaders request an alternative to Glassdoor. Comparably’s content aligns seamlessly with Ongig’s mission to reform job descriptions to entice top-notch and varied talent. If you’re interested in viewing an example of how your company’s Comparably content could be presented across all of your job listings, please request a demo here.